Psych Ward

[sdroid.livejournal.com]

So, Marvel.com has their on-going Psych Ward column where they give psychiatric profiles of certain characters. Rhodey popped up last week for those interested. I've been waiting for Tony to roll around and he finally did earlier today (a bit of an odd way to promote the DVD but, you know, whatever). Though, honestly, I thought it would have been longer XD

http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.5074.Psych_Ward~colon~_Iron_Man



As noted, the client is typically loose and inviting in conversation, but can quickly close off to the writer when a subject is raised that the client does not feel as comfortable discussing. This is particularly the case when matters related to the so-called super hero Civil War or the ongoing struggles with registering super humans are mentioned.

:( *small voice* S...Steve?

My personal favorite it part is "personal goal #2 (being open and honest in communication)." I don't know why I find it amusing. Perhaps it's because my mind has been churning out a story that involves Tony being forced to do just that.

It's also interesting to note (if you haven't been following these) the Psych Ward columns often have a lot of foreshadowing in them. The talk about relapsing, unknown side effects of Extremis, and taking time off from SHIELD should probably raise some flags (and, strangely enough, are all of those points, once again, play a role in that same story I've been kicking around >_> ).

Anyway, when ever I come here, I feel like I post more Tony than I do Steve -- probably because I haven't gotten to going through most of the backlogs of Cap archives. But, yeah, today is no different, I lack in Steve and I apologize. I do have a couple of Tony icons I am pretty proud of, though :D


Credit would be beautiful, but I'm not going to hunt you down if you don't.

...I need to bring more Steve with me next time...

Comments

[mechanicaljewel.livejournal.com]

I've been saying that Tony is due for a falling-off-the-wagon for some time. I had thought that such was going to be the reason for his taking time off from SHIELD, but apparently not.

And don't worry-- it's hard to avoid Tony these days, where as Steve is...;_;

[truthiness-aura.livejournal.com]

honestly, I thought it would have been longer

Tony, God bless him, could probably claim diagnoses from half the DSM-IV (the diagnostic manual for mental illnesses). Poor Tony.

(This is a really interesting series of articles, by the way- thanks for pointing it out. I love how half of Nick Fury's article has "REDACTED" on it.)

[sdroid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Nick Fury's was fun, even though it was Ultimate Fury and I don't really follow the Ultimate universe much :D

[jynx.livejournal.com]

Tony, God bless him, could probably claim diagnoses from half the DSM-IV. Poor Tony.

It's why we like him so much! He's fun to torment! Besides, makes great fodder for h/c fics

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

I love you for having a Swat Kats icon.

Poor Tony. ;_; The man is so obviously trying to get himself killed. I mean he tried to go head to head with Thor. He /knew/ he wasn't going to win that fight, he was probably surprised/disappointed Thor let him live.

[sdroid.livejournal.com]

Yay, SWAT Kats~

And, srsly yo, Tony is completely suicidal, or at the very least extremely elf-punishing/masochistic. I mean, I understand that a lot of the shit that's happened to Tony has to do with various writers' own dislike of the SHRA as much as it does the character, but in the actual IM on-going, it's almost like the writers are trying to avoid the subject as much as possible. Yeah, every once in a while, you'll get a Steve reference, but that's about it. Not saying I haven't enjoyed Director or SHIELD or Invincible, but rather than avoiding it, I'd love to see the writers confront it.

Merp, sorry about the random rant XD

[metallic-sweet.livejournal.com]

...in the opinion of the writer should be, is major depressive disorder.

O RLY? The number of blatantly suicidal actions that Tony takes coupled with his generally low opinion of himself in comparison to others should have tipped someone off to this long ago. YAH RLY!

Tony needs a hug. A good, long hug. DX

[mask-of-glamour.livejournal.com]

that was a really interesting article to read...thank you very much for sharing! =D but poor tony...seriously, if the foreshadowing is true, the tony!angst will tear me up...i'm so addicted though...

again, thanks for sharing! =D

Emily

[pensive]

man. That IS a fucked up way to promote the DVD: HAY BUY THIS MOVIE OUR HERO IS A DEPRESSIVE ALCOHOLIC.

Your icons=so much win. *saves*

[temperance-k.livejournal.com]

"Personal goal #2 (being open and honest in communication)."

Just wanted to say that the above physically HURTS after reading What If? Civil War. I don't know if his conversation with the Stranger and seeing the different ways Civil War could have ended is considered part of canon, but if it is, he's been walking around with a huge guilt complex about not being truthful with Cap the one time it could have mattered. (Though truthfully, it'd just be another one stacked on top of what happened in The Confession, Casualties of War, etc.)

And then, of course, he becomes Director of SHIELD, Secret Invasion happens, and being honest goes out the window. Oh Tony, I'm not sure how much of your misfortune is the world hating you and how much of it is you hating yourself.

[avidlydelicious.livejournal.com]

Argh, I know. I keep wondering about the What If? issue as well. I really, really, really want it to be canon, but nothing else that I know of references it. :(

[20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com]

This is veeeery interesting, and not just for the "depression? No shit!" diagnosis. It's pretty heartbreaking to look back on recent events with this in mind, and I hope they take it somewhere interesting soon; I'm failing to curb my excitement. :D

[jynx.livejournal.com]

From the rumors I've been hearing and then reading that? I've got a feeling Dark Reign is gonna be nastynasty for Tony. There's the rumors about Fraction getting rid of the Extremis virus (whiiiiich looks likely because of what's going on in SI), that Tony drops the armor (someone -- I think Peter? -- picks it up), and some other stuff. Also? The Skrulls really seem to want to crucify Tony and Reed. So, obviously there's a price on Tony's head.

All that does not add up to goodness. Oh, and the fact that Fraction actually wants to pulverize Tony to see if the poor boy can recover. *sigh*

[smilingskull.livejournal.com]

There's been noise for a while that Tony just flat out won't survive either Sekrit!Invasion or Five Nightmares, which is what I'm pretty sure is going on in his solo series currently (the whole thing with mini!Stane). Evidently killing off your summer blockbuster title hero is the hip new thing to do! (DC sorta did it with the whole Batman R.I.P. - although I got bored with that and I'm not 100% sure how it ended. If it has ended yet.)

And we know that they may be some big name deaths coming out of Sekrit!Invasion, and after Cap and Thor (granted, Thor is back) you just have to wonder if Joey Q is trying to kill off his whole damn arsenal of characters. Blech. Not one of his big fans.

(My personal soapbox idea on how it should end? Nick Fury, guns blazing, comes blasting in to the Skrull mothership on a rocket-powered motorcycle, kills all the Skrulls, single-handidly, saves the real Val (I miss her!) and crash lands the ship a la Anakin in the first battle sequence in Revenge of the Sith and triumphantly marches out of the ship with Val on his arm, a giant gun in the other hand, followed by the real version of everyone who got Skrulled.

And somehow real!Cap is there too, and Tony pulls a collapse-and-sob-at-Cap's-feet like that massive tearjerker drabble that I think Elespethdixion did for the Alphabet challenge, and then they (kiss) and make up and run off to Cabo for a very long, very much deserved vacation. With lots of hot sweaty mansex.

And Fury goes back to being awesome with S.H.I.E.L.D. Everyone lives happily ever after. THE END!)

[jynx.livejournal.com]

Fraction says he has 2 years of Iron Man planned out. Five Nightmares he probably will. Iss#5 had him as an LMD that got smashed. I'm also kinda wincing back on what Fraction's been quoted as saying:

" I’m going to grind him down into the dirt and smash him like a car compactor. He’ll be put through a crucible and we’ll see, when you destroy everything he is, when you take everything away, what’s left? Who is the man left standing? Is he somebody with a life worth living? Someone worth admiring? Someone worth reading about?”

So, I'm properly wary, but I doubt they'd kill off Tony. He has to, ya know, be there to have a breakdown on Cap. Because I say so.

And face it, the amount of readers that the movie brought in is not going to let them.

[sdroid.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I would probably do the same thing if I was ever allowed a crack at the Iron Man on-going ^_^; I think he's been so close to breaking for so long that when he comes down, he's going to come down hard. I wouldn't kill him, but I think I would put all of his grief and guilt before his peers to show them that, despite how much they may hate him, he's still human.

[jynx.livejournal.com]

ooooh, when he crashes? it's gonna be BAD and PUBLIC. :D I'm kinda looking forward to it

[sdroid.livejournal.com]

As am I XD

Also:

muahahahahahaha...

[avidlydelicious.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm not a fan of Fraction, but if he manages to do that and execute it well I may just fall in love with him. Heh.
I've been dying and anticipating a complete Tony meltdown since CW. They really, really need one. The character's been dancing around his guilt constantly, being wracked with guilt but never dealing with or actually acknowledging it (Haunted anyone?). It'll be painful, but I'd go through it for some massive h/c and redemption (and maybe finally some CLOSURE, dammit!).

[jynx.livejournal.com]

As one who suffers from guilt complexes, the idea of Tony having one, and having a justified one, is kinda amazing. I get flattened from feeling bad for not saying hi to someone for one day out of an entire week four years ago, imagine how crushing Tony's has to bee when he literally killed his best friend and destroyed everything?

If Fraction can pull this off? I will be in awe of him. Though I have to say, I really don't like the Stane bit....or Pepper basically telling Tony in a backhanded way that he's nothing more than a bomb.

*gigglefest*

[jynx.livejournal.com]

I annoyed the hell out of my comic dealer until they dropped the "boig bomb" - Skrulls win. Hence Dark Reign. MY whole idea of DR?

Extremis is knocked out, so's the armor, Tony's guilt complex ( a la Civil War What If?) is crushing and he goes into hiding (Skrulls want this head! I would hide too!) and works for Nick Fury with making bombs (either that only hurt the Skrulls (he and Reed could totally float that) or ones what would just throw general havoc into works and make life miserable for the greenies) and the Cap comes back and there is guilt!!!!! And then they beat the Skrulls and Tony makes a new suit (eventually) and yeah... h/c fic much? I'm horrible

Re: *gigglefest*

[mechanicaljewel.livejournal.com]

You know, Dark Reign had better be the last of this giant chasm Marvel has been spiralling down. All of their big events have been about the heroes losing in epically huge ways: first Wanda depowers most of the mutants and the Avengers disassemble; then Civil War where they couldn't be content just having the side portrayed as right lose, nope, they had to kill Captain America-- Not just kill him, not only have his arch-nemesis maneuver his demise, but to make his girlfriend pull the trigger, and to have his best friend be responsible for even putting him in a position to be killed; And now, Dark Reign.

How the hell are these people even heroes anymore? By the end of Civil War, Cap really was the only one left in the whole Marvel U. And so he had to die, apparently.

Well.....

[jynx.livejournal.com]

first off: .... ;o; cap... ;~;

Well... the more of the interviews I read from Fraction, the more I think that what they're (Marvel in general) doing is some more clean up from the 90s. They've got these wonderful characters, chipped and shattered and really not too well polished (except Cap, you really CAN'T make Cap better than he is), and Marvel's pretty much trying to reforge them, get them back up to their strength and their former beauty.

Fraction pointed it out pretty well - Tony is messed up. He's got so much blood on his hands and is so wracked with guilt that he's kinda about to become useless. The Civil War destroyed a lot of the good/bad stuff of the Marvel U. What Fraction wants to do is rip down alllllll of the stuff that Marvel tossed on Tony, and fix it. They're trying to take THE single most hated character in the Marvel U (except I've always liked him >>) and fix it. Make him a hero again, make him someone who can look himself in the mirror again and accept who he sees.

What I think Dark Reign is trying to do is to take the remnants of Civil War, those that are left, and put it back together, to reforge it. They're not just retconning (thank the gods), they're building upon and working on it and hammering it into smooth, strong metal that really won't break. Or at least, not easily. Sorry, sword metaphors are alive and kicking. Honestly, unless the super hero community can get over their well-earned hatred of each other (and Tony) then they are so screwed. IF they can work together and get over it (they're gonna have to, and trust is going to play such a huge factor in DA), then they can probably come out of this a lot stronger than when they went in. The possible results that I can think of are all positive.

Of course this just could be because I'm a sadistic fangirl who does the same stuff to her characters. At least I always give them happy endings :/

Your icon

[mariseul.livejournal.com]

I, I just reread that book yesterday and cried myself to sleep;_; Favorite book ever.

...Can I steal?

[pandanoai.livejournal.com]

In LOVE with icons! ::taking and crediting::